Slutty Vegan founder Pinky Cole‘s former chief financial officer faces several criminal charges in Georgia tied to Bar Vegan, the restaurateur’s now-closed restaurant.
Aaron Mattison was indicted on multiple charges, including theft by taking, first-degree forgery, and money laundering. He is accused of orchestrating various financial transactions while managing the company’s finances between 2021 and 2022, according to court documents obtained by The Neighborhood Talk.
Prosecutors allege that Mattison created fraudulent, unauthorized financial documents purporting to be approved by Bar Vegan. He then initiated an $87,000 wire transfer and used the funds for personal gain.
Mattison is also accused of withdrawing company funds through repeated $600 transactions between September 2021 and June 2022, totaling over $24,999, and of transferring the funds across several bank accounts in an alleged money-laundering scheme, per court documents.
The news comes more than four years after a former Bar Vegan employee, Morgan Georgia, filed a lawsuit in July 2022 over unpaid wages. Cole, Mattison, and Jason Crain, also a co-owner, were listed as defendants and accused of withholding tips and overtime, and failing to meet federal minimum wage requirements at the restaurant, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Although they initially denied the allegations, they later agreed to pay $62,172 to the plaintiffs for alleged damages.
“While Pinky Cole was personally named in the lawsuit, she has no personal ownership or financial interest in Bar Vegan LLC. The entity is owned by Slutty Vegan Inc., and any liabilities associated with Bar Vegan fall under that corporate structure,” Cole’s representative said, per AJC.
At the time, Cole stated that although she was mentioned as a defendant in the complaint, she was the CEO of Slutty Vegan and did not own an interest in Bar Vegan, which was located in Ponce City Market in Atlanta.
Cole was not charged in connection with Mattison’s indictment.
